Adhesives are commonly used in the manufacture of many consumer and commercial products. Adhesives work either by making a bonding layer between two surfaces or by filling in imperfections in the materials and enabling surface adhesion.
Most commonly used adhesives are of petroleum-derived feedstock molecules such as formaldehyde, phenol and methylene diisocyanate. Such chemicals are toxic to humans and animals, and are volatile. Furthermore, petroleum-based adhesives often require solvents such as methylene chloride, toluene and trichloroethane. As the adhesives set, the evaporated solvents contribute to indoor air pollution and also pollute the water supply. Furthermore, as petroleum resources grow scarce, the cost of such adhesives keeps rising. As such, there remains a need for non-toxic, non-flammable adhesives which are derived from natural/renewable sources.